Jim Mahoney
Jim Mahoney is a fantastic public speaker. My original intention for this episode was to help teachers improve their presentations. Yes…this interview provides such direction, but as my convo with Jim evolved, it became apparent that teacher presentations was just one layer of onion skin. Jim’s been in the teaching biz for 47 years. He’s been a teacher, coach, principal, central office administrator, superintendent, the Executive Director of Battelle for Kids, and finally…he’s returned home to the classroom. Jim now enlightens future teachers as a professor at Ohio University.
In this episode Jim delves into hooks, transitions, lesson plans, evaluations, reading, presentation, public speaking, storytelling, student-led learning, and more. This is a man that has seen plenty of change and has embraced plenty of change. What shines through is fierce passion for kids and deep wisdom about how to foster learning. Please visit Jim’s website to learn more about him, sign-up for his book notes, or ask him a question. Consider this interview a pep-talk for the 2018-2019 school year!
Episode Template
The Problem: Lesson delivery can grow stale.
The Solution: Experiment with your first day presentation
What you can do Tomorrow:
- Decide what kids must master that first day.
- Evaluate how you’ve unveiled these ideas in the past.
- Craft a marvelous hook. Perhaps, in a subtle way, challenge students to determine the relevancy of your subject. For ideas on hooks, check out this episode.
- Create a brief opening presentation which includes some biographical info and some broad course objectives. Encourage audience participation in this presentation. For ideas on how to include student participation in your presentations, check out this episode.
- Plan how to challenge students with a problem. A marvelous activity would be for groups to peer-teach classroom procedures. For ideas on promoting classroom procedures, check out this episode.
- Incorporate a segment for debriefing.
- Consider how to utilize this template in future lessons.
Commandeer an idea from this episode and use it on Day 1. You may discover a wonderful template that facilitates profound learning.
Listen to “106-47 Years of Enticing Kids to Lean Forward…Starring Jim Mahoney” on Spreaker.